The vigilante movies to end all vigilante movies (and inspire pretty much every single one that would come after it), Death Wish stars Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, a mild-mannered (well, as mild-mannered as Charles Bronson can manage to be) architect who goes on a roaring rampage of revenge after his wife is murdered and his daughter is raped to the point of being put into a goddamn coma. Kersey strikes down upon the wicked with great vengeance and furious anger, punishing the scumbags responsible and extending his particular brutal brand of justice upon pretty much any other evildoer that comes his way. Soon, he’s honored as a neighborhood hero and inevitably earns the attention of the cops, many of whom secretly respect and admire what he’s doing. A cathartic, exciting piece of pulp fiction, Death Wish is a nasty, unapologetic tale of cold, hard retribution — the film definitely glorifies its (anti-) hero before it gains something resembling a sense of at least basic morality (sort of) in the last act. They really don’t make ’em like this any more (though Saw director James Wan came close in 2007 with Death Sentence), and there will probably never be a chiseled, scarred action hero quite like ol’ Chuck.